February 1 Monday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Chatto & Windus and signed himself “a hard working man.” He had 21 or 22 books of his he wished shipped to India and other places, with names on the fly-leaf and a slip inside each with names and addresses. Would they “send a cuss in a cab to carry them to you for packing & mailing?” [MTP].

Sam “finished” FE (for the first time) on this day [Feb. 2 to Rogers]. He would “finish” it at least twice more.

March 13 Saturday – In London Sam wrote to an unidentified man who had suggested a lecture for him. Sam replied that literary work would fill his schedule with no time for lecturing [MTP].

March 7 Sunday – Miss Mary L. Craig wrote from Punxsutawney Penn. to Sam. She wrote that she took care of Sam’s mother “during the last year of her life,” and wanted his permission for her sister to do a portrait of Jane from a photogiven to Mary [MTP]. Note: Craig had written on Jan. 5, 1891 asking permission to write a sketch of Jane; see entry.

March 3 Wednesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to Gilbert Burgess (local), declining his “suggestion” of honorary membership in an unspecified club. He declined due to his bereavement.

March – McClure’s Magazine ran a full page frontispiece portrait of Sam by Charles Noel Flagg (1848-1916) This was the painting commissioned by Livy in 1891 which hung in the Hartford House

February 28 Sunday – Orion Clemens began a letter to Sam that he finished on Mar. 5 and 6. “$50 was gratefully received from you and Livy on the 25th. I paid Ed Brownell $5 making $100 I have paid him, and leaving $350, as I have a written agreement to pay him $5 a month….” Mollie was abed suffering from “La Grippe” and a boil in her nose [MTP].

February 23 Tuesday – At 23 Tedworth Square in London, Sam wrote to William Dean Howells. He thanked Howells for his “splendid phrases, so daringly uttered & so warmly” in his review of the first five volumes in Harper’s of Mark Twain’s “Uniform Edition” (HF, LM, P&P, CY, TSA, TSD).

February 20 Saturday – The London Athenaeum p. 244 reviewed TS,D: “The title story is a disappointment, ‘How to Tell a Story’ does not make its case, and the chapters on Paul Bourget “hardly seem worth reprinting” [Tenney 26].

February 19 Friday – Sam’s notebook:

Feb. 19/97. Lunched with the Henry M. Stanleys. Anecdote by Mrs. Tennant of the American who wanted his portrait painted by Sir John Millais.

Dennis McCartney’s description of Jim Townsend’s voice—“A strong bass—immensely powerful—but raucous, reedy, raspy—sort of a horse-fly voice, you know.[”]

February 13 Saturday – The Hartford Courant, p. 8, ran “An Appreciation of Mark Twain,” observing from William Dean Howells’ May 30, 1896 review of JA (reprinted in MMT p.150-6):

Mr. Howells, in his department in “Harper’s Weekly,” has a hearty appreciation of Mark Twain. He lauds in particular one of the humorist’s books which mortally offended the English [ CY] and which the majority of Americans, perhaps, will not agree with Howells in regarding as Mr. Clemens’s best work…